Pirate Bay founders to be "jailed"

The Swedish Supreme Court has decided that it is not interested in hearing the appeal of the three founders of The Pirate Bay.

This means that the jail sentences and fines handed out to Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström will stand.

In November 2010, the Swedish Court of Appeal found the three guilty of criminal copyright infringement offenses, although they did get their prison sentences decreased from the levels ordered at their original 2009 trial.

They were ordered to pay millions of dollars to the entertainment company plaintiffs.

Sunde will go to jail for eight months in prison. Neij will get 10 months and Lundström will be inside for four months. All will have to pay $6.8 million in damages.

A fourth defendant, Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm, who was absent from the appeal hearings due to medical circumstances, missed the appeal hearing and will get a year in prison.

Lundström’s lawyer Per E Samuelsson told Torrent Freak he was disappointed that the court is so uninterested in dissecting and analysing the legal twists and turns of “one of the world’s most high-profile legal cases of all time”.

One of the defendants will appeal the case in the European Court of Justice. But this, however, won’t prevent the sentences from being carried out.

However, it does not mean that the Pirate Bay founders will be eating porridge and have to watch out bending over in the showers. It is common in the Swedish justice system to deduct 12 months from any prison sentence on cases over five years old. Since the case in question meets that criteria the Pirate Bay defendants would qualify.That is up to the court.

Ironically, The Pirate Bay remains online as it was not part of the legal proceedings. Apparently a few hours after the Supreme Court decision was made public, The Pirate Bay started redirecting to a .se domain, fearing a possible seizure from US cops.

Big Content is unlikely to get any cash, the founders are unlikely to be jailed, and the Pirate Bay still runs. It does not look like anyone is a winner.